8 Mr. Colebrooke on the Philosophy of the Hindus. 



a sect which has sprung as a schism out of the Veddiitin. The points of 

 doctrine, on which these great authorities differ, will be inquired into in 

 another place. It may be readily supposed that they are not unfrequently 

 at vaiiance in the interpretation of the text, and I shall, therefore, make 

 little use of the scholia of Ramanuja for the present essay. For the same 

 reason, I make no reference to the commentaries of Ballabha A'charya, 

 Bhat't'a Bhascara, Ananta Tirt'ha surnamed Madhu, and Nilacant'ha, 

 whose interpretations differ essentially on some points from S'ancara's. 



Commentaries on the S'driraca siitras by authors of less note are extremely 

 numerous. I shall content myself with naming such only as are immediately 

 under view, viz. the Veddnta-sutra-muctdvali by Brahmananda-saraswati ;* 

 the Bralmm-sutra-bhdshya or Mmdnsd-bhdshya, by Bhascaracharya ; the 

 Veddnta-sdtra-vydc'hyd-cliandj-icd, by Bhavadeva jus'ra ; the Vydsa-sutra- 

 vritli, by Ranganat'ha ; the Subodhim or S'drira-sutra sdrdrl'ha chandricd, 

 by Gangadhara ; and the Brahmdmrita-vershin'i, by Ramananda. 



This list might with ease be greatly enlarged. Two of the commentaries, 

 which have been consulted in progress of preparing the present essay, are 

 without the author's name, either in preface or colophon, in the oidy copies 

 which I have seen ; and occasions have occurred for noticing authors of 

 commentaries on other branches of philosopliy, as well as on tlie Brahma 

 vumdnsd (for instance, Vijnyana Bhicshu, author of the Sdnc'hya-sdra and 

 Y6ga-vdrtica).\ 



To these many and various commentaries in prose, on the text and on the 

 scholia, must be added more than one in verse. For instance, the 

 Sancshepa-s'driraca, which is a metrical paraphrase of text and gloss, by 

 Sarvajnyatma-gira a sannydsi : it is expounded by a commentary entitled 

 Anvoaydrt'ha-pracus'icd, by Rama tirt'ha, disciple of Crishna tirt'ha, and 

 author of several other works ; in particular, a commentary on the Upadesa- 

 sahasri, and one on the Veddnta-sdra. 



Besides his great work, the interpretation of the sutras, S'ancara wrote 

 commentaries on all the principal or important Upanishads. His preceptor, 

 Govinda, and the preceptor's teacher, Gaud'apada, had already written 

 commentaries on many of them. 



S'ancara is author, likewise, of several distinct treatises ; the most noted 



• Mr. Ward calls this an abridgment of the Vedanta-sutras. It is no abridgment, but a com- 

 mentary in ordinary form. + Vol. i. p. 22. 



